Chipper Jones injured his hamstring yesterday during batting practice.
At what point does this cease to qualify as newsworthy?
This just in: the sun rose in the east this morning. Details at 11.
Nevertheless…this kind of blurb does qualify as news for those of us hard core baseball purists who have had our fill of hot stove updates this offseason. It means that the game we love — America’s game — has returned once again.
Oh sure, there was a college football season and a pro football season and college basketball and each one is interesting enough in their own right, I suppose. But at the heart of things, for a guy like me, these amount to nothing more than distractions, diversions, something to keep my mind occupied during the dark night of the soul that is the winter offseason.
I know spring doesn’t officially start for another couple of weeks. But in my book, it begins with spring training.
Finally, spring is here.
Finally, we can at least begin to put the ugliness of this offseason behind us.
No more Scott Boras histrionics.
No more Barry Bonds perjury stories.
No more Roger Clemens on 60 Minutes. (Please.)
No more Johan-watch. (How about a Kyle Lohse watch, anybody?)
We can finally, FINALLY talk about the baseball that’s being played ON the field.
Sunny and I ate lunch at our my favorite taqueria on Friday and it happened. There on the TV screen, over the bar, I saw it. The 3rd inning of a Dodgers/Braves spring training game. The players were scrubs, the crowd was sparse, but it didn’t matter.
Because in an instant, I knew it.
It was baseball season again.
And all was right with the world.
already & not yet 
I guess Chipper Jones is the new Ken Griffey Jr.
Amen. Though I’m more worried about our ancient pitchers than Chipper.
So happy that baseball is starting back up again! I hope that you know that our little girl knows that April means “a trip to see the Cards”. I guess that I’ve taught her right. Now all that we need is for the gas prices to take a dive. Just for the record, Casa Blanca is YOUR favorite, not mine. You tried for SO long to get me to like Rosie’s and I finally do. But now you’ve gone and switched on me. What’s up with that?
Any fantasy leagues this year?
I just hope this year ESPN will do MORE material on the Yankees and Red Sox. Those two teams just don’t seem to get enough coverage.
There are a handful of players that ought to be bubble-wrapped every game: Chipper, JD Drew, Moises Alou, Rich Harden, Mark Prior…Sadly, these are the guys that end up on my fantasy squad all too often. Adam, I like the Braves chances this year. I think it’ll be a horse race between the Phils, Mets, and Braves.
Sunny, don’t lie. You know you love Casa Blanca. And we’ll be sure not to disappoint our little girl. She needs a pink Cardinals hat. Keller, I think this is the year ESPN devotes themselves to that other great MLB rivalry: Marlins / Nats. Nationals Nation is quite the rabid fan base, let me tell ya. Kenny, does the pope wear a funny hat?
But at least Mike Hampton pitched 2 innings pain free.
Is Hampton still on the Marlins payroll? If so, he’s got to be one of their two or three highest paid players.
Sunny, I’m glad you made that comment….As soon as I read “our favorite taqueria on friday” I raced through my mind thinking “I’m pretty sure I was at Walmart and you texted me about what to get a Casa Blanca” and I thought “hmmmm, Jason must be making her go there on his day off b/c sunny doesn’t like casa blanca!” (Sorta) Glad baseball’s back, even though it is the LOOOOOONGEST sports season there is…
All right, see the modified version of this post. I’ve made a correction.
Ahhhh yes, Baseball Season. Or. more importantly, Fantasy Baseball Season. It never fails, as soon Jeff is able to see the end of Basketball season…he’s counting down the days to the league draft…or in his case, several drafts. This is the time of year my husband regresses to an 8 yr old. Kind of like the movie “Big”, but in reverse. But, don’t you find it interesting that he gets sick of the Yankee media when he’s a die hard Yankee fan? On another note, my blog is back up, if you care to browse.
Rebecca, your husband is a paradox wrapped in a riddle. Glad to know you’re back on the wagon. I’ll check it out.
I spoke too soon. Today Hampton left the game after only pitching 1 1/3 innings.
Wow. I had him going down on March 15th in our office pool.